Saturday, August 20, 2011

you cant have a second try, because time will pass you by

Today i focused on learning Hindi. For the past two days we have been enrolled in a school about 150 meters above Woodstock School called Landour Language School, were teachers specializing in teaching crash course Hindi classes instruct us for four hours a day. Yesterday we learned some nouns and a few key factors about the Hindi language. All the teachers move really fast so it is hard for me to fully comprehend and retain all the information but they have assured me it just takes practice everyday so that is exactly what i have been doing. Learning a foreign language was so hard in high school, probably because i was also focused on so many other things but over the past two days i have probably learned more Hindi than i ever learned in my entire two years of honors Spanish. Also it helps when almost everyone you talk to only speaks Hindi so you have to conform to them. Luckily Indian people are the nicest people i have ever met so the are patient with my mispronunciations and backwards way of saying things.

Funny story, i left the window open to our room while one of my roommates, Holden from Boston, was sleeping. Thirty minutes later i came back and my peanut butter Nature valley bars were all eaten and the wrappers were ripped to shreds and there was little pieces of peanut butter on the floor. I didnt know who could have done this but as i thought about it i realized the possibility of a monkey climbing in the window was actually really possible. Monkeys are everywhere and the scavenge for food like nobodies business. Also i found my Limca bottle that i was using to keep water in had a hole bitten into it and it was leaking on the floor. Gotta love the crafty monkeys.

Last night we had a great opportunity to see a very interesting dance done by young boys that dress like girls. These boys are basically gymnasts that do crazy acrobatic moves to music with bells attached to their ankles. They were very passionate about what they do which was refreshing to see. These boys stayed in our dormitory along with a few of the locals from down the mountain who came to see the show. The local kids were so friendly. They just came right into my room and asked to to hang out with them. We ended up having a lot in common and they new a far amount of english and American culture which was a relief from having to explain everything i do to people. We roamed the dark, wet, street until one in the morning which is unheard of around these parts. Everyone falls asleep very early because once it gets dark it gets to quiet to stay awake, literally. It was almost spooky walking around this late but They told us they would be back next friday and could not wait to see us again. I am eagerly awaiting their arrival.

Today was the first day i have gone down into the market of Mussorrii. It was so different than Delhi in that the trash was a fraction of what i saw in Delhi and the people all seemed very friendly and accommodating. I bought a wool vest and some palmagranates. The wool vest was about three dollars american and is the warmest clothing i own now and the palmagranates are about as fresh as you will ever get them. I bought about six of them and it only cost about 2 dollars which is about 100 rupees.

Tomorrow we go on our first day hike which isn’t going to be too far but it should be beautiful and insightful to what im going to see later on. My legs are defiantly feeling the burn walking up and down these mountains everyday but im sure its good training for the treks i will be completing. Next week we plain on traveling north to Spiti, which is known for uncharted areas and unknown valleys. We will be trekking as well as building small houses for some of the locals in the town. I cant wait to interact with some of these people because ive been reading this book i checked out of the library here about the city and so far it seems like a really interesting place with many temples and religious people. Namaste Ji.

2 comments:

Hey there glad you are having a great time! Forgot to tell you about the monkeys! Another critter you may come across while you are hiking around is a leach, carry a little salt to sprinkle on them if they are attached to you.Walk and cover as many paths as you can!Dakhbhal se mazza karo!Fali